I am going to relate a scary story to you. No, this is not about the supernatural. I did not see a ghost or hear any moans or groans or anything that went 'bump' in the night.

I was on I-55 on my way home from Pontiac Ill. I go there from time to time in order to have dinner at one of my favorite restaurants there. Anyway, I was just about to pull off at my regular exit, when my breaks totaly failed. I missed my turn, and had to "limp" home with only my parking break to stop this 2000 pound machine. I did manage to get home in one piece, though, but it took me for ever.

Now the Bartonville Insane Asylum is scary. Bachelors Grove is scary. Old creepy houses that are perported to be haunted are scary. Driving a car with no breaks is down right frightening.

A friend had that happen to him. His brakes went out right when he was pulling in his drive. Went right through the garage door. Better that, then when you're coming to an intersection with a pedestrian crossing through.

That was pretty terrorfying, Murf. But it is possible to get the car stopped if you keep a cool head. If that had happened in a construcion traffic jam, though, it would have been another story.

NeverMore, that was a lucky break. I was lucky because I was on an interstate, and there were no intersections, but just imagine, like you said, if there was a pedustrian in a cross walk, or if you were approaching a reilroad crossing, a freight train was comming th rough, and your breaks failed at that point.

Yes and no. It's actualy a Mercury, which is definately a Ford product. What happened was the break pad (the material that actualy makes contact with the roter) cama lose and that caused the bare metal to scrape against the roter. That, for some reason or another caused the caliper to go bad, and that caused all my break fluid to leak out. They had to replace the caliper, roter and all the break pads on the rear breaks. The front breaks are still good for another 7 or 8 thousand miles.

And I still love Fords, wich they were still making Mercuries, and in 6 or 8 years, I plan to own a Lincoln.

Thanks, folks. That was pretty scary, but everything worked out okay, and it didn't cost as much as expected to get the brakes fixed, either.

Ilovemichaelmeyers, I have owned two Ford F150s and this Mercury, and they have all been great vehicles. My father put over 80 thousand miles on his 1970 Mercury Monterey before he sold it to my brother, who drove it until it was destroyed in a flood, but it was still going strong at over 200 thousand miles until that flood came.

2000 pounds?? No way. I do own a Mercury Milan, and as you said, it does actualy weigh in at around 3200. I must have thrown out the 2000 pound figure as a guess or something. But you are right. My car weigs about 3200 pounds, and is rather hard to control with no breaks, when I'm driving it on the Interstate at Interstate speeds.